Quoting: Beamboom

Quoting: TheSHEEEPCustomers get screwed

... Or the opposite - that it ensures that Steam users are getting a lower price than they would if not.
I mean, it could easily go both ways, that devs would be adding the Valve cut on Steam (40% isn't it?), while operating with a different price elsewhere.

It's 20-30%, depending on the revenue that's been generated.

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Quoting: TheSHEEEPwhich I still think is unlikely because why make an entirely baseless claim to waste your time and money (lawyers, etc.) with?

https://heelbynature.com/wrestling-news/wwe-news/judge-dismisses-frivolous-lawsuit-against-wwe-filed-by-fan/ [External Link]

And again, there are flaws in the lawsuit, like the Microsoft Store claim, which is just wrong. If they can't even get something as simple as this right...?

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Quoting: CatKiller

Quoting: ZlopezThey are saying that you can't have different prices on different platforms. So they actually dictate the price you need to have elsewhere. So if you have a game on Steam and GOG and there is GOG sale going on, you need to lower price on Steam too.

They don't.

A game dev can sell their game anywhere, at any price they want. No skin off Valve's nose.

If a game dev sells Steam keys (which Valve generates for free, just for the asking) through a store that isn't Steam, at a lower price than they sell them on Steam, then they also need to sell them on Steam at that price at some point. So, as an example, a lot of the games sold in the recent Humble sale were distributed as Steam keys at a lower price than they were going for on Steam; those prices then got lowered on Steam itself once Humble's sale was over.

It's not even really dependent on sales. If you have that Humble subscription, you always get 20% off. Beat Saber has never been on sale on Steam. They only increased the price when they left Early Access. It's $30. On the Humble Store it's being sold for $24, undermining the Steam price.

So Valve doesn't even enforce that.

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Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: kuhpunkt

Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: kuhpunktLiam linked the Tweet from Sweeney (which is what the lawsuit refers to, not the contract!) and people called him out already back in 2019.

The lawsuit does not only link to that, as is made clear from the article it is talking about the Steam agreement. The Tweet was just mentioned as an example of it.

Without citing the contract and while making other false claims. So much of the lawsuit is about the 30% share and how Epic is so much better - which is not the point of the lawsuit at all.

You're making a bunch of baseless claims. The lawsuit clearly talks about the Steam agreement and MFN, as quoted in the article. They can't link directly to the agreement, as Valve (like most companies) keep their actual agreements private. This is basic business stuff.

How is my claim baseless? People jump on Valve here and judge them without knowing if this is even true! That's baseless.

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Quoting: Zlopez

Quoting: kuhpunkt

Quoting: Zlopez

Quoting: MohandevirReally not sure about this one... Nothing forces them to sell on Steam, anyway.

I disagree with this. If you want to hit a bigger audience you need to be on Steam, because it's a #1 platform for most of PC gamers.

Also the EPIC has it's own flaws, like exclusive titles or forcing the devs to drop Linux support for the games if they want to publish on EPIC. (Phoenix Point as an example or their own Unreal Tournament)

I'm using Steam because of what is Valve doing for the Linux community, but there are plenty of things I don't like about the Steam, like vendor lock-in or some of the ethical problems like this one. Next time I will look for something, I will first check the GOG, with minigalaxy it's really easy to manage your games now.

How is this en ethical problem? They don't dictate prices.

They are saying that you can't have different prices on different platforms. So they actually dictate the price you need to have elsewhere. So if you have a game on Steam and GOG and there is GOG sale going on, you need to lower price on Steam too.

There is no evidence that this is true. That's the problem.

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Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: kuhpunktLiam linked the Tweet from Sweeney (which is what the lawsuit refers to, not the contract!) and people called him out already back in 2019.

The lawsuit does not only link to that, as is made clear from the article it is talking about the Steam agreement. The Tweet was just mentioned as an example of it.

Without citing the contract and while making other false claims. So much of the lawsuit is about the 30% share and how Epic is so much better - which is not the point of the lawsuit at all.

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Quoting: Zlopez

Quoting: MohandevirReally not sure about this one... Nothing forces them to sell on Steam, anyway.

I disagree with this. If you want to hit a bigger audience you need to be on Steam, because it's a #1 platform for most of PC gamers.

Also the EPIC has it's own flaws, like exclusive titles or forcing the devs to drop Linux support for the games if they want to publish on EPIC. (Phoenix Point as an example or their own Unreal Tournament)

I'm using Steam because of what is Valve doing for the Linux community, but there are plenty of things I don't like about the Steam, like vendor lock-in or some of the ethical problems like this one. Next time I will look for something, I will first check the GOG, with minigalaxy it's really easy to manage your games now.

How is this en ethical problem? They don't dictate prices.

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Quoting: Potatoman24

The suit mentions how Valve require developers to sign an agreement that contains a "Most Favored Nations" provision to have developers keep the price of their games the same on Steam as other platforms.

could probably circumvent that using permanent sales(a lot of games do that) or platforms that sell(legal) keys like fanatical.
a lot of games are just cheaper on fanatical though permanent sales
Take for example P4G which was always 16€ when the steam release was always at 20€
right now its 13€

There is a high possibility that instead of these third parties having to put a X%"tax" they just pay a price to get a bunch of keys straight from the OEM and then sell them.

Fanatical is not part of the discussion, because they sell keys. That's different from selling games on other platforms.

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Quoting: TheSHEEEP

Quoting: kuhpunktAnd you really think the lawsuit would never have happened? Do you know how many dumb lawsuits are filed all the time?

Liam linked the Tweet from Sweeney (which is what the lawsuit refers to, not the contract!) and people called him out already back in 2019.

Well, I'm not going to dig through a 27-page long lawsuit to see if their claim is really based on only a tweet.
That would be totally dumb indeed - so dumb that I simply refuse to believe someone wasted lawyer time on this.

Well, the burden of proof is not on me. They claim that this is in some "confidential contract" without citing it. That's a very weak argument.

They even claim (page 13) that the share on the Microsoft store has 95/5 for games! That's not true. Microsoft changed the share for apps, not games.

https://9to5mac.com/2019/03/06/microsoft-store-revenue-share/ [External Link]

They can't even get this right. Utter nonsense.

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Quoting: Mohandevir

... they could lower their prices...

Looking forward to witness that. Quite sure that in the vast majority of cases it will lead to higher prices on Steam. End of story.

Really not sure about this one... Nothing forces them to sell on Steam, anyway.

Lets wait and see, but playing the white knight that will save the customers... Sorry, I'm not buying it. To me, it's just words.

Hitman 3 is on Epic, not on Steam. Epic said: lowers shares will lead to lower prices! Still costs $60.

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